It looks like the Golden State is tossing an extra $2 million at neuroscience research with the goal of supplementing President Obama's BRAIN Initiative. It's not a lot, but we can read it as commensurate with the President's initial $100 million proposal. Just enough to make a statement, not enough to ruffle too many feathers.

It makes sense that California is the first state to pick up the tab on this one—a good amount of the BRAINI Working Group hails from CA, and the Oxnard-based Kavli Foundation was an early player in the Initiative's conception. Still, I'm curious to see if anyone else follows in the state's footsteps.

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California researchers and lawmakers hope that the state’s relatively modest one-time outlay will pave the way for a larger multiyear endeavour that gives its scientists an edge in securing grants from the national initiative. “It’s a drop in the bucket, but it’s an important start,” says Zack Lynch, executive director of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, an advocacy group in San Francisco, California.